[Moncton] East (Harrisville, Lewisville, Tankville, Irishtown) Developments

[BlackYear]

Originally Posted by NBNYer

Are you talking about the distribution centre? If so, that's already under construction in the Caledonia industrial park, not on Harrisville.

Under a hangover state of mine earlier today, I thought the Kent distribution center was going to be next to the new Kent store.

[MonctonRad]

I'm off this week, so I thought I would do a little "recce" around the east end to see what's up.....

- I believe the Fairfield Inn by Marriott must be open (at least judging by the cars in the parking lot). If it hadn't been raining, I would have taken a few pictures. The final product isn't too bad at all; certainly the best of the three hotels near the airport anyway......
- They are putting up the structural steel for the new Kent store on Harrisville Blvd.
- There is a lot of activity at the site of the new Kent Distribution Centre in the Caledonia Industrial Park. Lot's of trucks moving dirt in any event.
- They must be putting up structural steel at the new Moncton High School (AKA the Juxta-Kent County High School or the Claude Williams High School). The site is too far off Elmwood to get a good look, but driving through Royal Oaks, you can see a crane lifting something.

[MonctonRad]

Harrisville Blvd Update:

The Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott is indeed now open. I include a couple of pictures of the final product. The new hotel in Moncton is supposed to be an exemplar of the new style for this brand across North America.....





A good chunk of the structural steel for the new Kent store across the street has now been erected.



Meanwhile, a new sign has been erected by Corey Craig Enterprises on the west side of Harrisville Blvd between Highway 15 and the Shediac Road advertising 39 acres of land available for development. They say they will "build to suit". For those of you that don't know, Corey Craig is the local franchisor of 34 Tim Horton's restaurants in greater Moncton, and has established a track record as a successful development company as well.

This is all on top of the "Moncton East Lands", on the east side of Harrisville Blvd owned by PlazaCorp, and the proposed new Sobeys store that will be built next to the Kent. Also, Babineau Blvd will soon be built. It will extend east from the Harrisville/Marriott intersection and will parallel Highway 15, opening even more land up for highway commercial development.

The cities of Moncton and Dieppe and the province of NB had better get cracking on the widening of Harrisville and Dieppe Blvds, and the widening of the Highway 15 overpass PDQ!!!

[habs33]

I heard that a Salvation army thrift store is going in the old blockbuster on Elmwood.

[mmmatt]

Originally Posted by habs33

I heard that a Salvation army thrift store is going in the old blockbuster on Elmwood.

Yes it is, saw the signs on in this week.

That means that all 3 former Blockbuster locations are now filled

Also the National Bank on UdeM campus is closed, it is now being renovated into a Cassie Populaire location. I'm guessing that is tied into the new location of National Bank on Elmwood Dr.

Cassie Populaire is a more "francophone" bank so its a better fit for UdeM.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by mmmatt

Also the National Bank on UdeM campus is closed, it is now being renovated into a Cassie Populaire location. I'm guessing that is tied into the new location of National Bank on Elmwood Dr.

You are likely right. This would make a lot of sense. It's in the same neighbourhood.

Originally Posted by mmmatt

Caisse Populaire is a more "francophone" bank so its a better fit for UdeM.

Well, the Caisse may not be any more French than the Banque Nationale, but it would certainly be much more Acadian!! From a nationalist perspective, this probably counts for something.

[habs33]

My 2 cents on this is it was probably more a financial decision than cultural. National Bank has been in the Tailon building for a very long time. It was there in the early eighties when my sister went to U de M. So U de M had plenty of time to kick them out in favor of Caisse Pop.

[ErickMontreal]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

You are likely right. This would make a lot of sense. It's in the same neighbourhood.



Well, the Caisse may not be any more French than the Banque Nationale, but it would certainly be much more Acadian!! From a nationalist perspective, this probably counts for something.

This what I was about to point out. Banque Nationale has its grassroots in Quebec per say, nothing in particular to do with the Acadiens from a nationalist standpoint if compared to Caisse Populaire which is very much so a pillar for the Acadien community. BNC just happens to be an institution based in a french province and controlled and founded by french-Quebecer that expanded its arms outside of la Belle Province over time.

[MonctonRad]

There is a new subdivision being built in Irishtown which will have it's main entrance just across from the new driveway for Claude Williams High School (whoops - I mean the new Moncton High School)

The subdivision will be called Baron Heights Estates. Although the entrance to the subdivision is within Moncton city limits, the actual subdivision itself is within Irishtown. This just goes to show how close the new Moncton High School will be to city limits. In other words as close to Claude Williams riding as physically possible while still being able to justifiably call the new school "Moncton" High School.

The new subdivision unfortunately will be ultra low density, advertising a couple of hundred lot ranging in size from one acre to seven acres. In other words, it will be another abomination just like Rural Estates on Moncton's northwestern fringe.

A subdivision like this is so low density that it makes it uneconomic to even begin considering offering basic services like water and sewer lines. I'm sure that the catalyst for the development of this abomination is the misbegotten relocation of Moncton High School.

What a travesty.

[pierremoncton]

Work started this week to remove the Humphrey Brook dam & bridge. Looks like a big project. I'd rather see the $1M go toward replacing the causeway.

[MonctonRad]

+1

I've walked the Humphrey Brook Trail a number of times and have always liked the headpond and spillway. I think I will miss them.....

[Hogie75]

Apparently Home Hardware is moving from there current building on elmwood drive to a new location in the caledonia area (close to Elmwood Drive and TCH) also suppose to have a grocery store attached (unknown possibly a co-op)

[pierremoncton]

So with Kent moving to Harrisville and Home Hardware moving to Caledonia, there will be no hardware stores left near the core. No more schools, and no more bike shops either.

After the Record St Co-op closed, I wouldn't be surprised at this point if the Main St Superstore moved to Shediac Rd, and the Vaughan Harvey Sobeys moved to Salisbury Rd.

Car culture is alive and well in Moncton. So frustrating to live downtown and to see everything move farther away.

And it's not just the private sector: the city spends $1M on disrupting the Humphrey Brook trail to no-one's benefit and resurfaces Vaughan Harvey for no reason, but St George St still looks like a dump -- I first lived in the downtown area ~12 years ago, and nothing has changed on St George other than the city bought new trash cans and put up tacky banners on a few lightposts.

Why the hell is Sharky's pawn shop building still up -- junk still visible through the windows -- after being shuttered for ~10 years, while the Wesley Church -- which was still used for private events -- was torn down to make way for an empty lot with realtor signs on it.

[MonctonRad]

Further to the above.....

Moncton's Last Outdoor Pool Closing
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-br...ool-close.html

This pool is located in the downtown east end and is used mostly by disadvantaged youth.

[NBNYer]

Originally Posted by pierremoncton

So with Kent moving to Harrisville and Home Hardware moving to Caledonia, there will be no hardware stores left near the core. No more schools, and no more bike shops either.

After the Record St Co-op closed, I wouldn't be surprised at this point if the Main St Superstore moved to Shediac Rd, and the Vaughan Harvey Sobeys moved to Salisbury Rd.

Car culture is alive and well in Moncton. So frustrating to live downtown and to see everything move farther away.

And it's not just the private sector: the city spends $1M on disrupting the Humphrey Brook trail to no-one's benefit and resurfaces Vaughan Harvey for no reason, but St George St still looks like a dump -- I first lived in the downtown area ~12 years ago, and nothing has changed on St George other than the city bought new trash cans and put up tacky banners on a few lightposts.

Why the hell is Sharky's pawn shop building still up -- junk still visible through the windows -- after being shuttered for ~10 years, while the Wesley Church -- which was still used for private events -- was torn down to make way for an empty lot with realtor signs on it.

The most rural province and it shows in the mindset of the majority of people here. All this population growth in the past decade represented huge potential for urban growth... a great opportunity for city building just wasted really (and those opportunities don't come along that often in the maritimes). It probably doesn't help that a big chunk of this growth comes from the provinces rural hinterland.

[MonctonRad]

Just noticed that the structural steel and some of the concrete exterior walls for the massive new Kent Distribution Centre in the Caledonia Industrial Park are going up. I would say they must have been working on this for about a week.......

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Hogie75

Apparently Home Hardware is moving from there current building on elmwood drive to a new location in the caledonia area (close to Elmwood Drive and TCH) also suppose to have a grocery store attached (unknown possibly a co-op)

I just noticed that they are clearing a large parcel of land just to the north of the TCH on the west side of Elmwood Drive, immediately adjacent to the westbound onramp onto the highway.

I wonder if this is related? If so, they are clearing more land than you would need for a Co-op and Home Hardware store.......

[David_99]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

I just noticed that they are clearing a large parcel of land just to the north of the TCH on the west side of Elmwood Drive, immediately adjacent to the westbound onramp onto the highway.

I wonder if this is related? If so, they are clearing more land than you would need for a Co-op and Home Hardware store.......

Isn't the McLaughlin Fire Station moving to the other side of the TCH as well?

They better get started on improving the off-ramp intersections before the traffic becomes a nightmare.

[habs33]

There was also surveying being done this week on the DQ side of the overpass. Several wooden stakes are planted on both sides of Elmwood. I wonder what this surveying was done for?

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by David_99

They better get started on improving the off-ramp intersections before the traffic becomes a nightmare.

The typical sequence of events here in Moncton (and NB) is for development to occur around an inadequate intersection/interchange first, then for traffic chaos to ensue (frequently with a few fatalities) and finally for improvements to traffic flow to occur. Usually traffic mitigation takes several steps over a number of years. i.e. - a few half assed measures that does nothing to really alleviate the situation until the governments are finally forced to do it right.

examples:

- Mapleton Road overpass over Wheeler
- Berry Mills Road
- Dieppe/Harrisville Blvd interchange with Veterans Highway

The Elmwood/TCH interchange will be no different. Expect final improvements to occur sometime around 2025.....